Date of Birth
10 June 1922,
Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA
22 June 1969,
Chelsea,
London,
England,
UK (accidental barbiturate overdose)
Frances
Ethel Gumm
Nickname
Baby Gumm
Miss Showbusiness
Joots
Height
4' 11½" (1.51 m)
Mini Biography
She immediately attracted attention in such films as Pigskin Parade (1936), Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) and Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), but Judy Garland didn't truly become a star until She was cast in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Her performance as Dorothy won her a special Juvenile Oscar, and it was this role, of course, that gave her her most famous song, "Over the Rainbow." She then appeared in a long string of classic MGM musicals, including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948) and several with her friend, Mickey Rooney. Unfortunately, the same studio that made her a star unwittingly Made her a drug addict, providing her with amphetamines to keep her energy level high and her weight level down. This in turn kept her wide awake at night, unable to sleep, so She was given barbiturates to help her sleep. she soon couldn't live without these "wonder drugs." She also couldn't seem to live without a man, as she went through several affairs, often with older men, and by 1950 had been married twice, to bandleader David Rose and director Vincente Minnelli. She had a daughter, Liza Minnelli, with Vincente. All during this time her drug intake had increased dramatically, which led to increasingly erratic behavior and She often failed to show up on time at the studio. MGM eventually couldn't take it any more, and her contract was terminated in 1950. she divorced Minnelli the following year and married producer Sidney Luft. Luft, the father of her daughter Lorna Luft and son Joey Luft, took it upon himself to orchestrate her comeback with a series of very successful concert tours. He also produced the film A star Is Born (1954), in which many feel She gave her greatest performance. By now she was concentrating on her career as a singer, which was winning her more legions of fans. She continued touring throughout the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in three more films and starring in her own television variety show in 1963, which had to be canceled after one season because the competition, "Bonanza" (1959), was too strong. She divorced Luft and married actor Mark Herron; She divorced him when she found out he was gay, and married disco manager Mickey Deans. Throughout this time, however, She still continued her dependency on prescription drugs, and finally the inevitable happened: on the night of June 22, 1969, She overdosed on barbiturates and died. Thousands mourned the world over. It was a sad way to end, but she has left a great legacy: her many films and recordings, as well as her children. Liza and Lorna are now singers as well, carrying on the family tradition.
Mini Biography
"But Ol' man River, he jes' keepin rollin' along" was a line in one of the many songs that Judy Garland recorded. She was Born in the Upper Mississippi River town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the Judy Garland Museum takes up an entire floor of the old grade school. A block away is the site of the home where Garland spent the first five years of her life. That spot is now occupied by a multiplex cinema in the town's only shopping center. Garland's father operated the only movie theater in Grand Rapids until he moved the family to California in 1927. Garland made her stage debut at that Grand Rapids theater with her two older sisters. In 1934, the Gumm Sisters performed in Chicago during the world's Fair there. That is where Frances Gumm was advised to change her Name to Judy Garland. Her voice got her into film acting when She was 13 and kept her in demand for stage and television performances after her film career was over. The Judy Garland in the later movies was much slimmer than the teenager who co-starred with Mickey Rooney and who played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939). The final display in The Judy Garland Museum blames the pills She started taking in the 1940s to achieve the streamlined figure Hollywood wanted her to have for her early Death.
with
Pigskin Parade (1936) at the age of 14, in which
She played a
barefoot, pigtailed
hillbilly. The film proved to be a
success, but
Judy's career was left hanging in the
balance, especially with
Deanna's instant success with
Fox Studios in December 1936. It was singing at a birthday party for
Clark Gable in February 1937 that saved Judy this
time, having sung the song 'You
made Me
Love You', which was devised by her singing coach
Roger Edens. MGM now
found reasons to put Judy into films and throughout 1937 and 1938
She was kept
busy. However, despite her film career now booming, the issue of
Judy's weight caught serious problems and after trying to starve the poor teenager, they began feeding the girl pills, especially amphetamines, in order to
give her the desired streamlined figure of
movie stars. In 1939, Judy shot immediately to stardom with
The Wizard of Oz (1939) at the age of 17, in which
She portrayed
Dorothy, an orphaned girl living on a
farm in the
dry planes of
Kansas who gets whisked off into the magical world of
Oz on the other
end of the rainbow. Her poignant
performance and
sweet delivery of her
signature song '
Over the Rainbow' earned Judy a special
Juvenile Oscar statuette on 29th February 1940 for
Best Performance by a
juvenile actor. Now
growing up, Judy began to yearn for more meatier, adult roles instead of the virginal
characters she had been playing since she was 14. She was now taking an interest in men and after starring in her final juvenile performance in
Ziegfeld Girl (1941) alongside glamorous beauties
Lana Turner and
Hedy Lamarr, Judy got engaged to
band leader
David Rose in
May 1941,
just 2 months after his divorce to
Martha Raye. Despite planning a
big wedding, the couple eloped to
Las Vegas and married during the
early hours of the morning on 28th July 1941 when Judy was 19, with
just her mother
Ethel and her stepfather Will
Gilmore present. However, their marriage went downhill as, after discovering that
She was pregnant in November 1942,
David and MGM persuaded her to abort the
Baby in order to keep her good-girl
image up.
she did so and, as a result, was haunted for the rest of her life by her 'inhumane actions'. The couple separated in January 1943 when Judy realized that
David was too weak to fight for her and stand up to MGM for doing this to his wife. By this
time, Judy had starred in her first adult role as a vaudevillian during WWI in
For Me and My Gal (1942). Within weeks of separation, Judy was soon having an affair with
actor Tyrone Power, who was married to French actress
Annabella. Their affair ended in
May 1943, which was when her affair with producer
Joseph L. Mankiewicz kicked off. He introduced her to psychoanalysis and
She soon began to make decisions about her career on her own, instead of the influence of the domineering MGM and her mother. Their affair ended in November 1943 and soon afterward, Judy reluctantly began filming
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), which proved to make her a
big success. The director
Vincente Minnelli highlighted
Judy's beauty for the first
time on screen having
made the period musical in her color, her first color film since
The Wizard Of
Oz (1939). He showed off her large brandy-brown eyes and her full thick lips and after filming ended in
April 1944, a
Love affair resulted between director and actress and they were soon living together. Vincente began to
mold Judy and her career, making her more
beautiful and more
popular with audiences worldwide. He directed her in The Clock (1945) and it was during the filming of this movie that the couple announced their engagement on
set on 9th January 1945. Judy's divorce from
David Rose had been finalized on 8th
June 1944 after almost 3 years of marriage and, despite her brief fling with
Orson Welles who, at the
time, was married to screen sex goddess
Rita Hayworth, on 15th
June 1945, Judy
made Vincente her second husband after tying the knot with him that afternoon at her
mother's home at the age of 23, with her
boss Louis B. Mayer giving her away and her
Best friend Betty Asher serving as bridesmaid. They spent 3 months on
honeymoon in
New York and after wards, Judy discovered that
She was pregnant. On 12th
March 1946 in
Los Angeles,
California, Judy gave birth to their daughter
Liza Minnelli via Caesarean
section. It was a joyous
time for the couple, but Judy was out of commission for weeks
due to the Caesarean and her postnatal depression, so
She spent much of her time re-cooperating in bed.
she soon returned to work, but married life was never the same for Vincente and Judy after they filmed
The Pirate (1948) together in 1947.
Judy's mental health was
fast deteriorating and
She began hallucinating things and making false accusations of
people, especially of her husband, making the filming a nightmare.
she also began an affair with aspiring Russian
actor Yul Brynner, but after the affair ended, Judy soon regained health and tried to salvage her failing marriage.
She then teamed up with dancing legend
Fred Astaire for the delightful musical
Easter Parade (1948), which proved a successful
comeback, despite having Vincente fired from directing the musical. Afterwards,
Judy's health deteriorated and
She began the first of several
suicide attempts. In
May 1949,
She was checked into a
rehabilitation center, which caused her much distress.
she soon regained strength and was visited frequently by her lover
Frank Sinatra, but never such much of Vincente or Liza. On returning, Judy
made In the Good Old Summertime (1949), which was also her daughter's film
debut, albeit Liza had an uncredited
cameo.
She had already been suspended by MGM for her lack of cooperation on the
set of
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), which also resulted in her getting replaced by
Ginger Rogers. After being replaced by
Betty Hutton on
Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Judy was suspended
yet again, before making her final film for MGM entitled
Summer Stock (1950). At 28, Judy received her third suspension and was fired by MGM and her second marriage was soon dissolved. Having taken up with
Sidney Luft, Judy traveled to
London to
star at the legendary
Palladium.
She was an instant
success and after her divorce to
Vincente Minnelli was finalized on 29th
March 1951 after almost 6 years of marriage, Judy traveled with Sid to
New York to make an appearance on
Broadway. With her newfound
fame on stage, Judy was stopped in her
tracks in February 1952 when
She fell pregnant by her new lover Sid.
she made him her third husband on 8th
June 1952 at the age of 30 after tying the knot with him at a
friend's ranch in
Pasadena. Her relationship with her mother had
long since been dissolved by this
point and after the birth of her second daughter
Lorna Luft on 21st November 1952, she refused her mother
Ethel to see her granddaughter. Ethel then died on 5th January 1953 of a
heart attack, leaving Judy devastated and guilty about not reconciling with her mother before her untimely demise. After the funeral, Judy signed a film contract with
Warner Bros. to
star in the musical remake of
A star Is Born (1937), which had starred
Janet Gaynor, who had won the first
ever Academy Award for
Best Actress in 1929. Filming soon began and as a result,
set off an affair between Judy and her leading
man, British
star James Mason.
She also picked up on her affair with
Frank Sinatra and after filming was complete, Judy was
yet again immortalized for being a great film
star.
She won a
Golden Globe for her
brilliant and truly outstanding
performance as
Esther Blodgett, nightclub singer turned
movie star, but when it came to the
Academy Awards, a distraught Judy
lost out to
Grace Kelly for the
Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the wife of an alcoholic
star in
The Country Girl (1954). It is still argued today that Judy should have won the Oscar over
Grace Kelly. Continuing her work
on stage, Judy gave birth to her beloved son
Joey Luft on 29th
March 1955.
She soon began to lose her millions of dollars
due to her husband's
strong gambling addiction and with hundreds of debts to pay, Judy and Sid began a volatile, on-off relationship which resulted in numerous attempts to file for divorce. In 1961, Judy returned to her ailing film career, this
time to
star in
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) at the age of 39, for which
She received an Oscar nomination for
Best Supporting Actress, but this
time lost out to
Rita Moreno for the coveted
Academy Award,
due to her
performance in
West Side Story (1961). Her battles with
alcoholism and
drugs led to Judy making thousands of
headlines in newspapers, but
She soldiered on, forming a close
friendship with President
John F.
Kennedy. In 1963, Judy and Sid finally separated permanently and on 19th
May 1965, their divorce was finalized after almost 13 years of marriage. By this
time, Judy had
made her final
performance on film alongside
Dirk Bogarde in
I Could Go on Singing (1963) at the age of 41.
She married her fourth husband
Mark Herron on 14th November 1965 in
Las Vegas, but they separated in
April 1966 after 5 months of marriage
due to his homosexuality. It was also that year that
She began an affair with
young journalist
Tom Green.
she then settled down in
London after their affair ended and she began dating disk jockey
Mickey Deans in December 1968, before getting engaged once her divorce from
Mark Herron was finalized on 9th January 1969 after 3 years of marriage.
She married Mickey, her
fifth and final husband, in a
register office in
Chelsea,
London on 15th
March 1969.
she continued working
on stage, appearing several times with her daughter Liza. It was during a concert in Chelsea, London that Judy stumbled into her bathroom late
one night and died of an overdose of barbiturates, the drug that had dominated her her whole life, on 22nd
June 1969 at the age of 47. Her daughter
Liza Minnelli paid for her funeral and her former lover
James Mason delivered her touching eulogy.
She is still an
icon to this day with her
famous performances in
The Wizard of Oz (1939),
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944),
Easter Parade (1948) and
A star Is Born (1954).
Spouse
Trivia
She was considered an icon in the gay community in the 1950s and 1960s. Her Death and the loss of that emotional icon in 1969 has been thought to be a contributing factor to the feeling of the passing of an era that helped spark the Stonewall Riots that began the militant gay rights movement.
Sister of Mary Jane Gumm and Virginia Gumm.
Mother of Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft.
6/12/64: She married Mark Herron, although her divorce from Sidney Luft was not settled. They were married in Mandarin by a Buddhist monk, and the validity of this marriage is not clear.
1961: Her record "Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall" garnered five Grammy Awards and remained at the top of Billboard's charts for two months.
Footage exists of Garland performing the lead role in Annie Get Your Gun (1950) before She was fired, and this footage has been used in numerous documentaries.
Originally screen-tested and signed to play the main supporting role of Helen Lawson, in Valley of the Dolls (1967). the studio even provided her with a pool table in her dressing room at her request. Eventually She backed out of the film and was ultimately replaced by Susan Hayward. She kept her costume when she walked off the film, and proceeded to wear the sequined pantsuit while performing in concerts around the world. The character of Neely O'Hara in the film was partially based on her own history (with pills, alcohol, and failed marriages). Sadly, it was Garland's real-life pill addiction that contributed to her leaving this film.
6/27/69: Her funeral was held in Manhattan at the Frank E. Campbell funeral home at Madison Ave. and 81st St., and 22,000 people filed past her open coffin over a 24-hour period. Ex-husband Vincente Minnelli did not attend. James Mason delivered the eulogy. Her body had been stored in a temporary crypt for over one year. The reason for this is that no one had come forward to pay the expense of moving her to a permanent resting spot at Ferncliff Cemetery in Ardsley, NY. Liza Minnelli had the impression that Judy's last husband, Mickey Deans, had made the necessary arrangements but Deans claimed to have no money. Liza then took on the task of raising the funds to have her properly buried. Death was caused by an "incautious self-overdosage of Seconal" which had raised the barbiturate level in her body beyond its tolerance.
Interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, USA.
Judy heard the same phrase in two movies: For Me and My Gal (1942) and Easter Parade (1948). In both, her Love interest (played by Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, respectively) says this: "Why didn't you tell me I was in Love with you?"
The day She died, there was a tornado in Kansas.
Liza Minnelli said that Judy planned on calling her autobiography "Ho-Hum".
Her portrayal of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939) was the inspiration for the character of Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island" (1964). (From Kansas, pigtails, lived on a farm with an aunt and uncle...)
Mother of Joey Luft.
Mother-in-law of Jack Haley Jr.
Liza Minnelli originally wanted Mickey Rooney to deliver Garland's eulogy, but She was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get through it. So James Mason did it instead.
According to singer Mel Tormé, She had a powerful gift of retention. she could view a piece of music once and have the entire thing memorized.
1997: Posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
1998: Garland's album, "Judy at Carnegie Hall" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of fame.
First cousin three times removed of President 'Ulysses S. Grant'.
September 2002: A Los Angeles federal judge barred Sidney Luft from selling the replacement Juvenile Oscar She received for The Wizard of Oz (1939). Luft was also ordered to pay nearly $60,000 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to end their second lawsuit against him for repeatedly trying to sell the statuette.
Favorite actor was Robert Donat (Best known for his portrayal of the title character in the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)).
Her soulful and iconic performance of "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz (1939) claimed the #1 spot on June 22, 2004 in The American Film Institute's list of "The 100 Years of The Greatest Songs". The AFI board said "Over the Rainbow" have captured the nation's heart, echoed beyond the walls of a movie theater, and ultimately stand in our collective memory of the film itself. It has resonated across the century, enriching America's film heritage and captivating artists and audiences today.
She discouraged her children from entering show business, pointing out her financial and health problems resulting from the nature of the entertainment business. Nevertheless, two of her children, Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft both became entertainers. Her son Joe lives in relative anonymity as a freelance photographer.
She experienced financial difficulties in the 1960s due to her overspending, periods of unemployment, owing of back taxes and embezzlement of funds by her business manager. The IRS garnished most of her concert revenues in the late 1960s. Her financial difficulties combined with her erratic behavior due to her drug dependencies helped break up her marriages and estrange her children from her a year before her Death.
Was a member of The International Order of Job's Daughters.
She was voted the 23rd Greatest movie star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Groucho Marx called her not winning an Oscar for A star Is Born (1954), "the biggest robbery since Brink's." Hedda Hopper later reported that her loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two. In any event, it was a heartbreak from which She never really recovered and which has remained a matter of some controversy ever since.
Wore fake teeth for The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Is the former mother-in-law of Jack Haley Jr., who is the son of The Wizard of Oz (1939) co-star Jack Haley.
Has a special variety of Rose named after her. The petals are yellow (Garland adored yellow roses) and the tips are bright red. It took devoted fans almost nine years after her Death to find a rose company in Britain interested in naming a rose officially for her, and the Judy Garland rose didn't appear in the US until 1991. Several JG rose bushes are planted outside of her burial crypt, and at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids.
She was three-quarters Scottish and one-quarter Irish in ancestry.
1952: Received a Special Tony Award "for an important contribution to the revival of vaudeville through her recent stint at the Palace Theatre.".
When She married Vincente Minnelli, Louis B. Mayer gave her away.
Her weight fluctuated much throughout her life. Sometimes She would be 80 pounds and then could gain 30 pounds in a a matter of days, only to lose it all again. An example of this weight fluctuation can be seen in Summer Stock (1950).
She was voted the 22nd Greatest movie star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
Was named #8 Actress on The AFI 50 Greatest Screen Legends
3/23/90: Pictured on one of four 25
